Varieties of Red Poppies

Icelandic Poppies

• Iceland, or Arctic, poppies (Papaver nudicale) grow as perennials in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 2 through 7, where winter lows range from minus 50 to zero F. These subarctic natives, adapted to short springs and summers, grow quickly to the flowering stage. The compact 1-foot to 18-inch plants produce 4- to 6-inch, greenish-blue lobed leaves. Their cup-shaped flowers, which can grow as much as 6 inches wide, have golden yellow centers. "Matador," a 1-foot cultivar, has vivid scarlet red petals. "Spring Fever," an early and mid-spring bloomer, reaches just 10 inches to 1 foot. Its multiple stems of clear red blooms open in unison for an impressive display.
  
  

Oriental Poppies

• The Oriental poppy (P. orientale) thrives in USDA plant hardiness zones 3 through 9, where winter lows range from 40 below to 20 F. Oriental poppy cultivars range from 18 inches to 4 feet high, and grow 2 to 3 feet wide. Dutch cultivar "Scarlett O'Hara" produces long-lasting, late spring and early summer flowers. Black-splotched bases set off the brilliant red-orange of their petals. Scarlett O'Hara grows 14 to 18 inches tall. "Beauty of Livermere's" scarlet petals surround centers of showy, purple-black stamens. The 4- to 8-inch blooms open on stems rising to 40 inches tall above clumps of grayish-green foliage. "Castagnette," at 2 to 3 feet high, pairs purple stamens with muted, brick-red petals. Like all Oriental poppies, these cultivars have a period of summer dormancy when their foliage disappears.
  
  

Corn Poppy

• European native corn poppy (P. rhoeas), is familiar in the United States as the American Legion poppy. This annual, blowing between the new graves in a southern Belgium cemetery, inspired Canadian Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae's World War I poem, "In Flanders Fields." Scarce before the war, the poppies thrived in battlefield soil enriched with limestone from the rubble left following bombardments. Their black-centered, brilliant red flowers, above clumps of modest, fernlike leaves, measure from 2 to 4 inches. Corn poppy grows up to 2 1/2 feet tall.
  
  

Poppyseed Poppy

• Although purchasing seeds of poppyseed poppy (P. somniferum) for culinary use remains acceptable, many countries have banned cultivation of this southern European and Western Asian plant, also known as opium poppy. Where it does grow, the annual produces 1- to 2-foot clumps of smooth, ruffled, bluish-green leaves. The "Paeoniflorum" cultivar produces showy, peony like pinkish-red flowers. The red variety has papery, bright red petals around purple-stamened, green centers. Poppyseed poppy tolerates winter temperatures to zone 5 and minus 20 F.